Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lord Byron,
the great lover of women and adventure: “Though the night was made
for loving, / And the day returns too soon, / Yet we'll go no more a-roving / By the light
of the moon.”
Dylan Thomas,
alcoholic master of modernism, with a Romantic's heart: “Oh as I
was young and easy in the mercy of his means, / Time held me green and dying / Though
I sang in my chains like the sea.”
W. H. Auden,
Brit-turned-American modernist on love, politics, and religion: “He
was my North, my South, my East and West / My working week and Sunday rest / My
noon, my midnight, my talk, my song / I thought that love would last forever: I was
wrong.”
Lewis Carroll,
creator of
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and
Through the
Looking-Glass:
“'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe...”
T. S. Eliot,
American-turned-British author of the influential
Waste Land:
“April is
the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire,
stirring / Dull roots with spring rain.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
conscience of the Victorian era: “ 'Tis better to have loved
and lost / Than never to have loved at all.”
Robert Browning:
“Oh, to be in England / Now that April's there.”
• Farther out in the south transept, you'll find a statue of...
William Shakespeare:
Although he's not buried here, this greatest of English writers
is honored by a fine statue that stands near the end of the transept, overlooking the others:
“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
and then is heard no more.”
George Frideric Handel:
High on the wall opposite Shakespeare is the German im-
migrant famous for composing the
Messiah
oratorio: “Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.”
The statue's features are modeled on Handel's death mask. Musicians can read the vocal
score in his hands for “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.” His actual tomb is on the
floor, next to...
Charles Dickens,
whose serialized novels brought literature to the masses: “It was
the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
On the floor near Shakespeare, you'll also find the tombs of
Samuel Johnson
(who
wrote the first English dictionary) and the great English actor
Laurence Olivier.
(Olivier
disdained the “Method” style of experiencing intense emotions in order to portray them.
When co-star Dustin Hoffman stayed up all night in order to appear haggard for a scene,
Olivier said, “My dear boy, why don't you simply try acting?”)
And finally, near the center of the transept, find the small, white floor plaque of
Tho-
mas Parr
(marked
THO: PARR
). Check the dates of his life (1483-1635) and do the math.
